Web site: (not active)
Origin: unknown
Category: Desktop
Desktop environment: CLI
Architecture: x86
Based on: unknown
Wikipedia:
Media: Install
The last version | Released: September 30, 1996
Dilinux – a (D)rop (I)n version of linux, It can be droped into any dos system e.g. msdos, pcdos, etc. and win95 in dos mode. It runs on kernel 2.0.21.
It’s %100 ELF.
It was compiled with support for IDE hard drives, it has no support for SCSI hard drives or ethernet cards.
It doesn’t have X windows or any programs needed for compiling, e.g. gcc compiler, binutils, the complete libc, etc.
There are compiled elf versions of all the above, so they can be easily droped into the system.
It does include /usr/bin/(make) & (ginstall), these might be of use if you want to install a precompiled-elf program that you dowloaded.
Dilinux is primarily intended as a way to have slip/ppp networking under a dos system.
You should have at least 8 mb. of Ram = Memory to run this system, you’ll also need to create a swap file of at least 4 mb. better yet 8 mb, this is easy to create.
If you have 12 mbytes. of memory or more, you probably can get by without creating a swap file, but it would’nt hurt to create a 4 mb. swap file.
This is the hardware it supports;
1. PCI motherboards.
2. IDE hard drives.
3. IDE/ATAPI cdrom drives.
4. Standard floppy drives, e.g. a: b: etc.
5. Parallel printers.
6. Serial mice.
7. QIC-117, 40/80/3010/3020 Tape Drives.
Dilinux includes /lib/libsvga.so.1.2.10, this is used to support various programs that require a graphics capable console e.g. screensavers, video games, jpeg-gif-mpeg viewers, etc., there are precompiled-elf versions of these programs that can be droped into the system.
Dilinux is a fascinating relic of the past—minimalist, DOS-friendly, and impressively lightweight. But no SCSI or Ethernet support? That must have been quite limiting, even back in the ’90s. I wonder if anyone actually used this for real-world networking. Did it have any impact, or was it more of a niche experiment?